Another Timing Question

[thermidorthelobster]

Hi everybody.

I'm looking at a trip from UK down to Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, then on to Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, maybe Togo and Benin, by Land Rover.

The catch is that I can't leave before April 2006, and I need to be back during August 06, with a maximum total length of 3 months, to avoid divorce proceedings from my wife, who will only be with me for a month of the trip.

Reading around, the advice seems to be to avoid crossing the Sahara between late April and October. Does this apply to the Atlantic route as much as the more taxing inland routes?

Can I ask the experienced travellers here if you think that leaving UK in early April would give me enough time to get through the Sahara, still allowing time to enjoy the journey, before it gets too harsh to travel? I'd rather focus on spending time in the southernmost countries, so if it would be feasible to make Senegal within a month, then spend the rest of the time mooching around the rest of the area, that would be fine, but I'm not sure how practical this would be.

What about hitting Burkina et al in the height of the summer? My thoughts were that they may be equatorial enough for it not really to make much difference, but having never been there, I don't know how true this is. The alternative is probably not to go at all, unfortunately!

Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks, David